Inaccurate captured media end... Weird problem please help...

Hi,

I've encounter this weird problem after capturing. The media ends early the original out point set at the logging. Sometimes it will end at exactly the out point that i set, but recently it always ended about 2-5 seconds earlier than the original out point. How did that happened?

The only thing that I've done different from the past is that I used to break up the entire 124 mins tape into small segments, but recently just captured as a whole chunk. I don't know if this is what's causing the problem.

Thanks

> The only thing that I've done different from the past is that I used to break up the entire 124
> mins tape into small segments, but recently just captured as a whole chunk. I don't know if
> this is what's causing the problem.

It's entirely possible -- capturing a whole tape as one big clip is a big no-no. I wouldn't say it's the definitive cause because different shoots with different tapes mean different timecodes and issues. You could use the same camera, deck, computer, drives, cables etc. and get different results on two shoots.

But stop capturing whole tapes in one clip. Bad, bad work method.

As for how to solve your current problem, you haven't given us enough information yet. It could be bad timecode (eg. breaks), it could be you have the wrong settings, it could be something wrong with handles, it could be you didn't give your captures enough post-roll. You have to tell us your tape format, equipment, capture settings, and some idea of what those miscaptured logs are like.


www.derekmok.com

I know I know I shouldn't be capturing the whole tape. I probably won't do this again. But the main reason that i post this is because i didn't get any error message at the end of the capturing. It says the capture was successful at the end of the pop up window, where the media ends is earlier than the out point that i set. I am really curious how did that happen?

I dont' know if you (derek) remember, but I asked you once in the office, that if your in/out points of the captured media is the same as the in/out points logging? And you said yes. Well, this is the actual case, and it happened to at least four tapes.

Here's the detail description of the set up and other info that you asked for:
I am capturing edited master for dvd authoring from DVCAM tapes. The deck that i'm using is a DSR-11 and it's connected to a Powermac G4 running fcp 5.0.x. The setting was the default setting for DV-NTSC and DV-NTSC anamorphic. I didn't add handles because you suggested that we should not trust the automated stuff. Everything else was set at default (easy set-up) as well. There was absolutely no timecode break or anything other error message. No problem found on the log either. I set to abort capture at drop frame, there are no capture size limit set either.
The example would be like this: I set the out point @ 01:59:00:00 but the actual media captured will end at 01:58:57:03. When i go back and try capture the last part, I'll set the in at 01:58:55:00 and out at 02:03:00:00, everything worked out fine. The media has the same in/out. i just don't know why it's do this.

> I asked you once in the office, that if your in/out points of the captured media is the same as
> the in/out points logging? And you said yes. Well, this is the actual case, and it happened to
> at least four tapes.

Two big differences you gotta realize:

1. At the office we're using RS-422 Device Control.

2. And we're usually capturing from DigiBeta.

The DV/FireWire combo is less reliable.

Are you using Drop Frame or Non-Drop Frame?


www.derekmok.com

yeah, i wonder if it's a drop frame / non-drop frame issue?

nick

the sequence is set to non-drop.../ but i don't think that's the problem thou

but for capturing? can i change drop/non drop in capture setting?

when output to tape, the timecode is actually generated on the FCP side or by the recording side?
is the sequence drop/non drop setting determine the timecode on the tape to go from 29 to 02?
if yes, how can we know if the tape was output as drop or non drop, besides checking for the 29-02 changes happened in timecode?

Drop frame timecode reads: xx:xx:xx;xx. Non-drop-frame timecode reads xx:xx:xx:xx.


www.derekmok.com

Are you maybe running DVCAM on the DVSP setting? This can also cause sync and level problems.